Chapter 106: Awake at Last

Before Zhou Yi could speak, Baozi had already returned to the room. "Brother Yi, I’ll take you away."

Mu Chen's expression instantly wilted; he shook his head and sighed. "You can’t escape. The Gu and the Gu master—only that old woman has a telepathic connection with it, just like you and Xun Feng. There's no running away."

"What should we do then? We can't just wait here to die, can we?" Baozi’s anxiety burst forth in a loud voice.

"Buy me a few minutes, kill that golden cicada first!" Zhou Yi gritted his teeth and said. Then he withdrew all his external spiritual awareness back into his body, focusing all his energy on fighting the golden cicada Gu king inside him.

By doing this, Zhou Yi had essentially put his life entirely in Baozi’s and Mu Chen’s hands. Even if someone slashed at him with a knife now, he couldn’t evade it.

Zhou Yi had been through so much misfortune—just as he had recuperated under Maoshan’s care, he returned to the Northeast only to be infected with a Gu.

No more idle talk.

Zhou Yi concentrated all his strength on the golden cicada Gu king inside him. He condensed his spiritual energy into a fine needle and jabbed repeatedly at the base of the cicada’s wings.

Sensing danger, the golden cicada struggled and rapidly moved toward Zhou Yi’s dantian. Zhou Yi’s needle stabs were ineffective, so he had to split his spiritual energy to firmly fix the cicada within his meridians.

This required great skill—a simultaneous effort to pin the cicada down and seek its weak points, demonstrating impressive control over his spiritual energy.

The old Miao woman had only sent four Miao men because she knew Zhou Yi was infected. Four men were enough to deal with Baozi and Mu Chen.

“Stop resisting and come back with us to see Grandmother. Your companion won’t die from the cicada’s brain-eating,” said the plump Miao man who had bought steamed buns in the town.

“Why would your so-called Grandmother put a Gu on us?” Mu Chen tried to stall, hoping Zhou Yi could kill the golden cicada first.

“Grandmother’s actions are beyond our understanding. Stop resisting. You two can’t defeat the four of us,” the plump man said with a broad, round face and big ears, smiling cruelly despite his harsh words.

“Where did the flying corpse go? Why isn’t it in the pit?” Baozi interrupted.

The plump man’s smile vanished instantly when Baozi mentioned the flying corpse. Frowning, he asked, “You know about the flying corpse? What else do you know?”

Baozi chuckled. “I also know you’re waiting for the Seven Star Alignment and that blood spring…”

Before Baozi could finish, the plump man sharply interrupted, “Enough! Stop wasting time. Since you know so much, you’re just unlucky.”

He then spoke a phrase in the local dialect to the three Miao men behind him. They all drew their weapons and charged at Baozi and Mu Chen.

The battle erupted instantly. Baozi and Mu Chen only aimed to delay, not to kill, dodging and weaving against the four attackers. For a while, the Miao men couldn’t break their defense.

“Shuang Yu, go upstairs and grab him,” the plump man ordered, realizing they were stalling.

Without a word, Shuang Yu took the stairs. Baozi and Mu Chen could hold off the four men but couldn’t spare attention for the upstairs.

Shuang Yu reached the second floor and glanced left and right before heading straight to the room where Zhou Yi was. At the door, he drew his curved saber and pushed inside.

As the door opened, Xun Feng leapt out from inside the room. Shuang Yu instinctively stepped back, dodging the attack, then ignored Xun Feng and charged at Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi was now utterly defenseless. If Shuang Yu wanted to kill him, it would be effortless.

Xun Feng fiercely protected him, not allowing Shuang Yu to harm Zhou Yi. Xun Feng tried to attack from behind, but Shuang Yu was skilled; despite Xun Feng’s speed, he couldn’t land a blow.

As Shuang Yu and Xun Feng struggled, a powerful aura approached, causing Shuang Yu to hesitate just as Xun Feng tackled him down.

Xun Feng opened his jaws to seize Shuang Yu’s throat, but just as his head lowered, he felt a gentle force lift him up.

“Evil beast, you shall not take human life at will,” a voice said.

Xun Feng turned to see Xu Hua standing in the room. “Amitabha, leave now. I will take this man back to Wutai Mountain,” Xu Hua said, releasing Xun Feng and lifting the entire bedboard into the air, flying toward Wutai Mountain.

Xun Feng howled fiercely and chased after Xu Hua.

Xu Hua had no intention to harm anyone; he was merely carrying out his master’s orders.

***

Xu Hua flew swiftly and steadily through the air. Zhou Yi sat on the bedboard without discomfort. He had tried countless ways to kill the golden cicada, but the Gu was highly intelligent. Zhou Yi repeatedly tried to stab the wing base with his spiritual needle, but each time the cicada dodged the vital point, and the needle pierced elsewhere uselessly.

The cicada’s wing base was only needle-tip sized, surrounded by incredibly hard material. Only piercing precisely there could harm it. After hundreds of failed attempts, Zhou Yi was about to give up. Suddenly, the cicada stopped struggling, for reasons unknown, bringing a glimmer of hope to Zhou Yi.

He jabbed the needle exactly at the cicada’s wing base. The cicada screamed in pain inside his meridians and sprayed copious venom before shrinking and curling into a motionless ball.

Mu Chen had said the golden cicada’s venom was deadly. The venom stuck to the meridian walls, hissing softly. Zhou Yi tried to expel the venom with spiritual energy, but as soon as it touched the toxin, white smoke rose.

“This venom can even dissolve spiritual energy,” Zhou Yi thought in alarm. The venom had already burned through the meridian wall, flowing into his internal organs.

The internal organs were more delicate than the meridians and could not withstand such harm. The searing pain forced Zhou Yi to cry out. In an instant, a faint black medicinal energy merged with the venom, neutralizing it.

The meridian walls healed automatically, and the pain vanished. Yet the cicada’s corpse remained trapped inside the meridians, unable to be removed.

Zhou Yi did not awaken immediately. Uncertain if the venom was completely neutralized, he cautiously circulated his spiritual energy. The black energy was from the Yin Pill of the Patch Heaven Elixir—a method of using poison to counter poison.

When Zhou Yi finally opened his eyes, he was startled to find himself at Shanhaiguan, beyond the Great Wall.

Looking down, he saw the nine ring scars shining on his bald head—marks he knew all too well. If not Xu Hua’s, whose could they be?

Without wasting words with Xu Hua, Zhou Yi rose from the bedboard and turned to run. But as he leapt forward, he felt something tugging at his ankle. Looking down, he saw a chain, the thickness of a finger, bound around his ankle.

“Amitabha, since you’re awake, you may walk on your own...”